JBS has suspended beef production at 33 of 36 plants in Brazil. The world’s largest meat processor announced on Thursday that due to embargoes on exports to foreign countries, it would suspend production at 33 of its plants in Brazil.

This move comes in the midst of a corruption scandal which raised sanitary questions about the Brazilian meat processing industry. The government in Brazil suspended meat shipments from the 21 meat-packing plants under investigation by the federal police.

A dozen countries, including Brazil's largest trading partner, China, have suspended imports of Brazilian meat as a precaution. Eight others have stopped imports from the plants under investigation.

Brazil’s meat exports worth €13bn

The company added that the 33 factories would resume production next week, with a 35% reduction in capacity.

JBS, which has a turnover of €50bn and employs 125,000 workers in Brazil, has the capacity to slaughter and process 80,000 cattle per day across its global operations. It has a production footprint in 12 countries around the world, with 230 production facilities including its Moy Park facility in Northern Ireland, making it the world’s largest beef, poultry and lamb processor and the world’s second-largest pork processor.

The meat industry is very important to Brazil’s economy, with exports of €13bn around the world each year. Exports of beef, chicken, pork and other meat products from Brazil to the EU were valued at €1.6bn last year. In volume terms, this is more than half a million tonnes of meat products, with 65,000t of that beef.

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